Apostle (2018) - Netflix Review

Review:

*Originally written October 12th, 2018*

It's a rare thing to get a good Netflix Original film, it's even rarer to get a great one. Despite the inclusion of Gareth Evans, Dan Stevens and the atmospheric trailers, I had my reservations about Apostle. Netflix have the supreme talent of wasting excellent crews on films that end up being utterly mediocre. To my surprise, Apostle is one of Netflix's best films and one of the best horror films of the year so far.

Thomas Richardson (Dan Stevens) finds himself on a remote island populated by a cult run by Prophet Malcolm (Michael Sheen) as he attempts to find his kidnapped sister as he uncovers the more insane and disturbing goings on on the island. There's clear inspiration to The Wicker Man here, but with Evans kinetic direction, it feels like a Wicker Man homage on crack.

I was unsure at how Evans would do with horror after doing so well with action. Thankfully though, he is a very safe pair of hands, his direction reveals some shocking and horrific moments of brutality and he really knows how to build suspense and create an atmosphere. The design of the island is gorgeous, filled with some incredible cinematography. This is one of those Netflix films that actually looks like a film too, not a glorified, made-for-TV film with a budget. It also looks fantastic with Netflix's 4K output. I really wish they'd release some of their films on UHD. 

There's a slow build up to the action and gore heavy second half, but it's all worth the wait. Evans stretches every moment of tension out as long as he can without it feeling unwelcome. I could argue the film is a bit too long, but I was pretty engrossed most of the time to argue that. I just wish I got to see this on a big-screen and not at home. I imagine I would have loved this even more in a cinema.

Once things do kick off in the second half, it is extremely nasty and grotesque. When people die in this film, they die. There are some utterly vile and painful to watch kills in Apostle and it really justifies that lovely 18 rating it got the UK. Evans does not shy away from any of the brutality, even some of the close to martial arts stuff is pretty brutal. It's not quiet as frantic and choreographed as The Raid 2 for instance, but it's a very welcome addition to a horror film.

Where Apostle does falter a bit is with its characters, there's not really a lot there in terms of character. Dan Stevens does a wonderful job with his performance and with some of the more physical stuff, but I just there was more there with his character. His motivation is pretty sound and easy to get behind, but some forced flashbacks are a bit shoe-horned in to flesh out his character, but don't always work.

Some viewers might find things a little too weird and ambiguous with the goings on in the cult.  The final shot is bound to raise questions and leave the viewer wondering what the hell just happened (As it did with me), but it made me want to rewatch it again in the future. World building and mystery is definitely something Apostle does very right.


Apostle isn't without its problems, but for a Netflix Original film, it is damn excellent. A dark, brutal and involving mystery horror with gorgeous direction and a solid lead performance from Dan Stevens. I'll always just wish I got to see it in cinema though. 

8/10 Dans 

Apostle is streaming now on Netflix worldwide
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Colossal (2016) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written May 23rd, 2017*

I gave it a day before I wrote my review for Colossal, as I had mixed feelings, but I overall liked it. The more I think about it, the more I loved it. Colossal is not entirely succesful, but it is one of the most unique and bat-shit weirdest things I've seen in theaters this year.

It follows an alcoholic woman who is kicked out her apartment and forced to move back home because she is broke, upon returning home, she gets a job as a bartender for her friend, she also discovers she has a connection to a giant monster that's destroying a city in South Korea.

It's mad stuff, but at the same time, it is so madly original and unlike anything I've ever seen that I sorta loved it. Anne Hathaway gives the performance of her career as the lead alcoholic who is both parts hilarious and easy to root for.

Anne Hathaway

Nacho Vigalonda delivers a script that is smart, funny and meaningful. I was surprised at how dark the film was too. The trailers made it out to be very light-hearted, which it is for the most part, but goes to some really dark places thanks to Jason Sudeikis, who gives a surprisingly intense and strangely scary performance, which is the complete opposite of his usual role.

As great as the two lead performances are, the main problem with the film I had was the characterization. It's quickly established that both the lead characters are alcoholics, but I never really once felt like Hathaway was really going through that much of a struggle. She moves back to her home town to get her life in order, but she never really struggles with her addiction too much.

There's the odd scene where she looks at a bottle of beer while the camera zooms in on it slowly as the sound and music fades out, but that was really it. There are a couple of scenes where she actually gets drunk and controls the monster (A fairly heavy-handed metaphor), but she's fine for the most part. I just wish they dug deeper into her addiction a bit more.

It's important to note that this isn't really a giant monster movie in the vein of say Godzilla or Pacific Rim, it's an indie comedy with a little bit of monster action thrown in. I think that's what I loved the most about Colossal, it's a bizarre mix of genres that really shouldn't work, but somehow comes together by the end.

Anne Hathaway's monster

Where my biggest flaw with the film lies is maybe within Jason Sudeikis' character. He has a lot of tone changes and does a lot of strange things that don't entirely make sense to me. I understand he's an alcoholic with a lot of regrets, but his behaviour is really erratic and comes out of nowhere. His performance was great though and I loved seeing him play such a nasty person at times.

There are a few things I won't spoil that were left out of the trailer, which was nice to see for a change. The ending is excellent though and everything comes together for a satisfying end a surpris punchline that left things on a great not.

Colossal isn't 100% succesful at what it tries to do, but most importantly, it is a unique and original film that deserves to be supported, but thankfully it is also an excellent and funny film with the strongest Anne Hathaway performance I've seen.

8/10 Dans

Colossal is out now in cinemas in the UK
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The Guest (2014) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written September 22nd, 2015*

Even I'm quite amazed at myself for watching The Guest so many times this year and the laws of diminishing returns have not set in, each time I watch it, I either enjoy it the same or even more. Finally watching it again today on Blu-ray for the first time, I loved it even more. I've seen it enough times now (5) that I feel comfortable to put it in my top 10 of all-time.

The Guest is just a complete blast to watch, it's 90 minutes of balls-out-the-bath, self aware chaos that builds to one of best final acts of any film I've seen in a long time. What I love about The Guest is that it is a film that doesn't really belong to one genre, the first hour or so is a mystery thriller, while the last half hour is an action slasher with horror elements. It's an 80's throwback, it even looks like it could have been filmed in the early 90's, but the Blu-ray looks gorgeous, full on fine detail and deep blacks, the scenes set in the New Mexico desert look beautiful and the night scenes that have a Drive style neon color scheme looks stunning.

Dan Stevens

The story is fairly standard and not very complex. David (Dan Stevens) comes to the Peterson family claiming to be a friend of their recently deceased son, and when bodies start to pile up around town, the daughter Anna (Maika Monroe) begins to suspect that David isn't who he says he is.

The great thing about The Guest is just how self aware it is. It knows it's silly and embraces it, everyone seems to be in on the joke, which has made it hard for a lot of people to see what the film was going for. Much like Adam Wingard's previous film 'You're Next', which I didn't like as much as this, but still liked, it embraces its genre cliches, rather than trying to do something new. The only thing new The Guest provides is an amazing 80's soundtrack full of bands like Clan of Xymax, The Sisters of Mercy and SURVIVE. Steve Moore's Carpenter-esque score also added so much to the tone of the film.

Maika Monroe

The performances are great, especially Dan Stevens as David, who plays it perfectly as the charismatic man who can seem to be like the perfect gentleman and everyone's best friend, but then is insanely believable as a guy who is actually a complete psychopath. Maika Monroe was also excellent, I loved her more in It Follows, but I guess that's because she was the main focus of the film and was given more opportunity to act there, although that doesn't mean she was any less great here. Lance Riddick pops up for a little while too as a military leader of some sort too, and he was awesome, just such a joy to watch, watch the horror maze scene and you tell me he wasn't in on the joke. The main performance that mainly hammed it up was the father of the Peterson family, his performance was hilarious and over the top.

Adam Wingard shoots the film really well, it has a unique visual style and each action scene was memorable, even if for darkly comical reasons (The restaurant scene). Who ever thought the finale should have taken place in a haunted maze meant for a school dance was a genius, and whomever chose the song 'Antonio (Berlin Breakdown Version)' by Annie couldn't have found a better song for the scene if he tried. The very ending is amazing too, clearly paying homage to 80's slasher films and hinting that David is essentially an unkillable slasher villain.

The Guest is the most fun films I've watched such a long time, an amazing homage to 80's slasher films and thrillers with a gorgeous soundtrack and hypnotic performance from Dan Stevens

10/10 Dans

The Guest is out now on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK
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Beauty and the Beast (2017) - Film Review

Review:

Since I don't have the same attachment to the original Disney film most people have (I only saw it for the first time a few days ago), I was much more open to this new live-action adaptation. I've found Disney's live-action reboots pretty succesful for the most part, The Jungle Book in particuarly being spectacular.

I didn't have much hope for Beauty and the Beast, but to my surprise, I ended up loving it far more than I possibly imagined. While it might not be as strong as the 1991 version, this holds up on its own as a beautiful, heartfelt and funny romance that mostly hits all the right notes.

Dan Stevens and Emma Watson as The Beast and Belle

What struck me first is just how beautiful and elaborate everything is, from set-design to costumes to special effects, everything on display is a feast for your eyes. It's a bring, colour and vibrant film. It was hard to take everything in on a first watch, but it was wonderful. My only fault with the designs had to be the Cogsworth and Lumiere, whose designs look a bit weird to say the least and the lack the simplistic charm of the original Disney film.

In terms of performances, everyone was pretty great. Dan Stevens was fantastic as the Beast, jumping from anger, sadness and genuine warmth and giving a compelling performance even under all that CGI. Emma Watson was decent as Belle, her singing may have been a bit autotuned, but she did a good job overall. Their relationship is touching and genuinely worth investing in, making for a some emotionally resonate moments I had no idea would reach me the way it did. It was really funny too, a scene with a snowball came out of nowhere and nearly killed me.

Luke Evans stole the show as Gaston, who played it much less disgusting and rapey than the previous version. His inherent narscissism and self-obsession led to some of the films funniest moments. As did his assistant, LeFou, Disney's first openely gay live-action character. He might not have been "openely" gay as what I'd heard, but it was fine and I'm glad Disney are adding equality and diversity to the film. I'm hoping they go a step further in future films.

Josh Gad and Luke Evans as LeFou and Gaston

I may have criticised the design of Cogsworth and Lumiere, but Ian McKellen and Ewan McGregor both do scene-stealing jobs. I had my worries about McGregor's French accent (His career has a fair few misguided accents), but he pulled it off extremely well. Ian McKellen may have given me the biggest laugh of the whole film one of his final scenes.

 

Lumiere and Cogsworth voiced by Ewan McGregor and Ian McKellen

Despite my apprehension towards musicals, I was pretty won over by most of the songs. A fair few of them I quite liked. A lot of them were lifted directly from the original animation, but even some of the new ones were good in their own right. My biggest problem with last years Jungle Book film was how out of the place the musical numbers were within the film, luckily Beauty and the Beast did not suffer from the same problem.

Beauty and the Beast was a pleasant surprise, a visually astonishing, funny, heartfelt and worthy remake that stands its own ground against an already fantastic film. More of this, Disney.

9/10 Dans

Beauty and the Beast is out now in theaters in the UK
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